Daily Archives: March 7, 2017

Fun story but slightly weaker than usual mystery

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Iiiireader

Every Trick in the Rook: A Birds of a Feather Mystery

By: Marty Wingate

Rating: 4 of 5

I’ve read all of the books in this series and, while I think this book is perhaps a tad weaker than the others, I still found that I enjoyed catching up with Julia’s latest doings. As usual, she is always rushing headlong into situations and suffers the consequences (emotional and physical.)

I found it somewhat weak because I was able to figure out the whodunnit very early on in the book. It was due to the clues that were left a little heavy-handed. Otherwise, the story was engaging and progressed Julia’s relationship with Michael.

(more…)

Posted in Mystery/Suspense/Thriller | Leave a comment

Funny and Uplifting it so much more than a great coloring book (which it is, too!)

Posted on March 7, 2017 by iiiireaderadmin

You Are Here: An Owner’s Manual for Dangerous Minds

By: Jenny Lawson

Rating: 5 of 5

Wow this book really made a big impression on me. It is not simply a coloring book, it is a collection of thoughts on life and how to cope. I had not read Jenny Lawson’s blog but I see that it is something I must do in the future. Her writing is funny, tells a great story and shows her struggle with finding her place in the world in other words, pretty much what all of us are doing as well.
There is some profanity, which doesn’t bother me, but I mention it in case it is an issue with some.

The designs are outstanding. It’s wonderful that such a talented writer can express herself so beautifully in drawings as well. The subjects of the designs are all over the place and are quite detailed with some having a heavy use of black ink.
This is definitely the coloring book that I will keep at my side for a while to come. There is just so much to color and to read that it demands attention. I’m very happy to own it and plan on buying a copy for each of my daughters.
This is what I saw while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
160 pages with stories, life lessons, and fantastic coloring pages
The designs are printed on mostly one side of page (some are back to back)
Paper is mostly white (some color pages), heavy weight, slightly rough and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper. If you use these with back to back page designs, the ink will ruin the design on the back of the page. For designs printed on one side of the page, I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.
Water-based markers, gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page but do not bleed through the paper.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results.